Rob Neyer...WRONG?

Yes, children. I'm afraid it's true. Rob Neyer was wrong. In his attempt to criticize the selection of Dustin Pedroia as AL MVP, his arguments fail.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/blog/index?entryID=3710934&name=Neyer_Rob

This is the link for those that haven't seen the article.

I'll address some key points first.

"Aside from his height, there's nothing unique about Dustin Pedroia. Unusual: yes. Unique: no. Chase Utley plays the game right, and is a better hitter and a better fielder than Pedroia. Utley stole 14 bases this season, and was caught twice. Pedroia stole 20 bases, and was caught once. I'm sorry, but one steal per month just doesn't contribute much to uniqueness."

Where do I start...

Utley is a better hitter? Really?

2008: Pedroia- .326 / Utley- .292
Career: Pedroia .313 / Utley- .298

Pedroia was second in the AL in batting. Utley didn't even sniff the top 10.

Perhaps you meant to include walks...Utley does have a 6 point edge in lifetime OBP, but I'm not sure that makes him a better hitter.

Or perhaps you meant POWER HITTER. If so you should have specified, Rob. Because your current statement looks pretty stupid.

Moving on...Utley is better fielder? Really?

2008: Pedroia- .992 fld% (.987 lg avg) 4.63 range (4.51 lg range)
Utley- .984 fld% (.982 lg) 5.05 range (4.04 lg)

So Utley has a slightly better range but made more mistakes last year.

Career: Pedroia- .989 (.986) 4.54 (4.51)
Utley- .982 (.983) 5.05 (4.40)

Funny. I don't see how you conclude that Utley is the better fielder based on these numbers. I wonder- did you look at the stat prior to writing your article?

Steals

Again, your arguments in favor of Utley kind of flop. 12 net steals versus 19? And PEDROIA is the one you choose to criticize? Weird. Again.

Anyhoo, let's put all of that aside. Despite the fact that you were wrong, it wasn't the crux of your column.
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Pedroia versus Mauer

I don't get it, Rob. Look at their stat lines:

Pedroia: 118 R/ 17 HR/ 83 RBI/ .326 avg/ .869 OPS/ 322 TB
Mauer: 98 R/ 9 HR/ 85 RBI/ .328 avg/ .864 OPS/ 242 TB

Now I grant you that pedroia had 100+ extra ABs, and will concede that they inflate his production totals. But the flip side of that is that he MAINTAINED his avg and OPS numbers despite having the extra opportunities to fail.

Just for shits and giggles, here's Dustin's line reduced to 536 ABs (same as Mauer)

97 R/ 14 HR/ 76 RBI

Still comparable despite the fact that Mauer hit 3rd and Pedroia hit 2nd for most of the year.


1. VORP-

Pedroia wins. At least you admit it.

"Measured by Baseball Prospectus' Wins Above Replacement Player (which considers defense), Mauer finished a close second to Pedroia."

2. Clutch

"Clutch" is bullcrap, you should know better. Even so, I'll point out that in 5 games in the cleanup spot, Pedroia hit .667 with an OPS of 1.889.

CLEANUP. As a 2B. That seems pretty freaking clutch to me.

3. Runs created

Pedroia LED the Sox with 123. Mauer DID NOT lead the Twins. Morneau did.

Pedroia also led the Sox in runs, hits, total bases, doubles, average, times on base, AB/ K, and power/ speed numbers.

With the exception of runs and average, Mauer didn't lead the Twins in any of those.

I know it's hard to compare a 2B with a C, but there's no way you can say Mauer did more offensively for his team than Pedroia did for his.

4. Win shares

You cite Mauer's edge here, but assessing players using win share s needs to be done very carefully and in the context of other statistics. Given Pedroia's edge in the stat line, I'm not sure how Mauer overcomes him here. Still, for argument's sake I'll give you this one.
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Looking at the overall picture though, I just fail to see how you arrive at Mauer being the better choice. And you compound your folly with this line:

"And for as long as I've been doing this, every time the MVP voters have a choice between the guy with the power stats and the guy who does the little things, they pick the guy with the big numbers."

Dude. Seriously? Is Pedroia supposed to be the "guy with the power stats" in this equation? Because you spent the first half of your column ripping him for his LACK of uniqueness when it comes to stats.

Here's my conclusion: Pedroia did more for the Sox than Mauer did for the Twins. He did things that very few second basemen have done. He batted in 4 different spots in the lineup. He carried that team through injuries to nearly every other contributor.

Mauer's batting title is great. But given that he wasn't even the most valuable TWIN, he did not deserve the MVP.